“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12 NKJV)
This is a very familiar passage of scripture, one that is preached on and written about often. But do we fully understand its implications?
Sure, you say. It means that the real battle is spiritual in nature. And you’re right. The real battle IS spiritual in nature! But how can this impact how we interact with others?
Especially when they are just plain … irritating!!!???
Let’s put it this way: When someone purposefully does something that they know will make you upset, don’t we have the right to get upset at that person? And we do just that: We get upset.
Sure the Bible tells us to forgive (“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph. 4:32 NKJV), and sometimes we do so immediately or within an hour/day or two. But sometimes we just don’t forgive at all… We have all heard stories of families that have been angry at each other for so long, that they don’t even fully remember what it was that made them angry in the first place.
Our tendency to not forgive is why we are admonished to, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath…” (James 1:19 NKJV); and “’Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath…” (Eph. 4:26 NKJV). We are even told that, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” (Prov. 14:29 ESV).
So what can we do to stop getting angry when someone hurts us?
We can remember Eph. 6:12! In the face of those people who make us mad, we need to remember that our struggle isn’t against the person at all! It is against the powers, principalities and rulers of the darkness! It is against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places!
Think about it: What would happen if we would stop getting angry at the person; but instead, we would turn our wrath against the demons that are driving the division in our relationship with that person?
For example: Let’s say your spouse expects you to drop everything and come running every time they need you. This, of course, makes you angry because it seems that your spouse doesn’t see what you are doing as important. So what should we do? Get angry at our spouses? Or should we go into spiritual warfare against the demons of impatience that are driving our spouses?
Or perhaps someone is incredibly rude to you in the store. They push ahead of you, taking the last item on the shelf, even though they know you are wanting that same item. They push ahead of you in the check out line, etc. Do you get angry at that person? Or do you go into spiritual warfare against the demons of greed that are driving that person?
Here is a true story that happened to me a couple years ago. I was driving in a foreign country, and being unfamiliar with the roads, I hesitated before turning in order to figure out which way I needed to go. The driver behind me laid down on his horn, he raced up behind me, nearly rear ending me, then he raced around me, waving at me with a derogatory gesture as he did. About half a kilometer up the road, he got into the left turn lane. That just so happened to be where I wanted to go as well, so I pulled in to the left turn lane behind him. Instead of turning, however, he got out of his car, ran back to my car, yelling and swearing and waving his fist. Fortunately there wasn’t anyone behind me, so I backed up, pulled back into the main lane, and drove away… maybe a bit faster than the speed limit! I was mad. Boiling mad to be exact. I hadn’t done anything to deserve being treated like that!
I had a choice to make then: I could continue in my anger, or I could go into spiritual warfare against the demon of control that controlled this particular driver.
I won’t kid you: I chose the former.
My husband, on the other hand, chose the latter. He began to pray against the spirit of control over the other driver; but he also began to pray over the spirit of wrath that had come over me. We will never know what happened with the other driver; but I can tell you that I was soon feeling a lot better!
I could give you multiple other examples, but the point is this: When you choose to go into spiritual warfare and renounce the demons that are driving the behaviour that makes you mad, you will be astonished to see how quickly the behaviour stops! Problem resolved, relationship preserved, all without anger or the need for forgiveness!
Why not try this the next time someone makes you mad? Go into spiritual warfare against the demon that drives that other person! I can guarantee you will see much better results than your anger might have brought about!
Oh, and if I might add one more thing… Sometimes when someone makes us mad, it isn’t a demonic force affecting that other person, but one that is affecting us… Take, for example, the times I’ve gotten mad at my husband for not putting the toilet seat down… Yup! No demon affecting him there, he just forgets! My anger is fueled by my own demons of control! And the only way through that one is to renounce the control that made me mad in the first place…
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Moderator, Associate Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries.
